Harrington leads rout of former team as Knicks pound Warriors

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Chris Duhon has been battling back spasms
for a little over two weeks. That did not prevent him from
enjoying a record-setting night sharing the ball.

Duhon set a franchise record with 22 assists, eclipsing the
50-year mark set by Richie Guerin, as the New York Knicks outran
the Golden State Warriors en route to a 138-125 victory on
Saturday night.

"It's an amazing accomplishment," Duhon said. "Obviously to
break this kind of record is something you can't do by yourself.
It's a team effort because you can't get assists without your
guys putting the ball in the hole. It's something that I'll
remember forever."

David Lee - whose production has skyrocketed since the team
dealt Zach Randolph to the Clippers - was one of the primary
beneficiaries of Duhon's performance. He collected a
career-high 37 points and 21 rebounds for New York's first 30-20
regulation game since Patrick Ewing had 36 and 21 on January 23,
1994 against Philadelphia.

"Duhon did a great job finding me on the pick-and-roll," Lee
said. "He found me about 18-20 times, it looks like. He was
just unbelievable and my job was just to set a good screen, give
him space and find the ball and finish."

Al Harrington also had a big night - fittingly, coming against
the team that traded him just over a week ago - as he set season
highs with 36 points and 12 rebounds for his first win in three
games as a Knick.

"To have 22 assists and have three turnovers, not many people in
the league have done that," Harrington said of his new point
guard's performance.

Duhon's night came in a game against the worst defensive team
against the Western Conference. It also happened on a night in
which the Knicks were down to three guards.

Nate Robinson sat out with a groin injury, forcing coach head
coach Mike D'Antoni to move Quentin Richardson into the
backcourt and give Duhon 45 minutes of playing time.

With 35 assists overall, the Knicks topped the 30-assist mark
for the third time in 16 games this season - after failing to do
so for the entire 2007-08 campaign.

"It's just great ball movement," Duhon said. "We moved the ball
great. I think we had 21 assists in the first half. I think
whenever everybody's touching the ball, everybody feels good
about themselves."

Duhon was playing this one injured as he has battled through
minor back spasms. But with the Knicks looking at a fourth
straight loss and their depth in the backcourt depleted, he was
not going to sit out.

"Chris has been battling a bad back and just to be out there and
playing 40 or whatever he played, it's got to be courage,"
D'Antoni said. "He will come out every day and will practice
hard. He will do the right things and that's kind of what we're
trying to build."

Signed as a free agent after spending his first four seasons
with the Chicago Bulls, Duhon picked apart Golden State's
defense, which focused on stopping 3-point shooters.

"I think Duhon is the story tonight," Warriors coach Don Nelson
said. "Wow, what a player. I've been watching him on film and
seen him on videos but to see him in person is yet another
story. The guy's got the whole package.

"He looked like Steve Nash out there. Whether we zoned him,
switched him, it didn't matter, he still found a way to hurt us.
Really an impressive performance."

Corey Maggette led the Warriors with 32 points, but it was not
enough as Golden State dropped its sixth in a row and concluded
a winless five-game road trip.

Duhon had 10 assists in a record-setting first half for the
Knicks, who scored 82 points - the most at the current Madison
Square Garden and six shy of the franchise mark set in 1963
against the Boston Celtics.

"He was great," Warriors guard Jamal Crawford said. "He really
picked us apart. I would almost have Duhon do all of the
scoring instead of picking who he wants to score, but he did a
great job."

The contest marked the first meeting since Golden State sent
Harrington to the Knicks for Crawford. Crawford fell to 0-4
since joining the Warriors on Tuesday in Washington and scored
21 points.

"It was definitely weird to say the least," Crawford said. "It
was the first time since the trade that this happened, so it was
definitely a little weird."

A streaky shooter throughout his tenure in New York, Crawford
missed 13 of his first 16 shots before scoring 11 straight
points for the Warriors to cut their deficit to 129-119 with
4:20 remaining.

Golden State also got within 12 on two occasions late in the
third, but Lee's dunk with 2:41 left triggered a 10-4 spurt as
the Knicks took a 116-96 lead into the fourth. That came after
Harrington scored New York's first 10 points of the second half
for a 24-point edge.